Police determined that Denisse Escareno, 24, had been assaulted brutally, said Shelby County Sheriff’s Det. Jason Rice. Her assailant remains at large.

Escareno was found by passersby shortly before 3 p.m., near Lisby Lane, about two miles south of Interstate 64. She was taken by Shelby County EMS to Jewish Hospital Shelbyville and airlifted from there to UofL.

Rice said her injuries are life-threatening and that police thought at first that she had been a hit-and-run victim.

“But based on doctors’ examinations, we do not feel that was the case, and that she was actually assaulted, either at another location, or in a moving vehicle, prior to being put out there on Mount Eden Road,” Rice said.

He added that her assailant, when apprehended, would be looking at very serious charges.

“Right now, we’ve got attempted murder, or assault one at the minimum, and based on her condition, the charges could change,” he said.

One of the passersby who stopped to help when she spotted Escareno on the side of the road, was a woman from Mount Eden, on her way into Shelbyville.

The woman, whose name is being withheld because she could face repercussions from the alleged assailant, said the incident was troubling and overwhelming.

“She was laying there on the side of the road, struggling to breathe,” the woman said. “We [others who stopped] all took our coats off and put them on her. We all prayed for her. I have not stopped worrying about her, and thinking about her being thrown out of a car, like a dog. It was horrific.”

Sheriff’s Det. Eric Hettinger said Escareno has resided in Shelbyville for several years.

He added that he has no information on a suspect to release at this time.

“We are still working on getting that information,” he said.

Although few details about Escareno have been released, she does have a criminal record, having twice been lodged at the Shelby County Detention Center. Both times she had been arrested for the same offense, driving without an operator’s license, said Capt. Tony Aldridge at the detention center.